Etymology

Conestoga

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Today it means: Synonym of Susquehannock, a member of a North Iroquoian people formerly living in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Full definition →

First used 17th c.Susquehannock kanahstó:ke
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The story

  1. Susquehannock · derived fromkanahstó:ke
  2. English todayConestoga

From Susquehannock kanahstó:ke (the name of a settlement, now Conestoga, Pennsylvania). According to Mithun, British colonists based the name on the Mohawk word tekanastoge (“place of the upright pole”). It may also be the anglicized form of Gandastogue, which may have been close to what the Susquehannock called themselves.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. Synonym of Susquehannock, a member of a North Iroquoian people formerly living in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
  • from 19th c. A type of draft horse developed in Pennsylvania.
  • from 20th c. Ellipsis of Conestoga wagon.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.